I read the story of a man who said he has overcome the fear of flying by carrying a parachute on every flight. My question is why is he carrying a parachute on every flight? If I’m right, I think the man in question has not really overcome the fear of flying in his mind, he is one of the most fearful fliers. The reason of carrying a parachute on every flight is nothing else than a fear of flying. It is a wrong assumption for him to say he has overcome it. Indeed, the fear of flying still remains in him.

Many first-time fliers suffer from fear of flying or aerophobia, although some try to hide it better than the others yet, the fear of flying still remains in their minds. It is argued that at least one out of 6 adults has a fear of flying. Even some airline crews, flight attendants and pilots also have either a fear of flying or heights. So, why not you, you may want ask, everyone has some degree of aerophobia.

A strong Assertion on Flight Safety

A professional pilot Andrew Brookes, a former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot who has also written a good materials on flight safety and he was once voted as the Defense Aerospace journalist of the year in 2004 and 2006, base on his experience as a professional pilot, he says “the technology is so good today that pilot is not really necessary. The technology exists now for an airliner to fly without a pilot from London to Beijing. Today plane highly ever fail- I can’t think of a (recent) accident caused by engines failing or wings dropping off.” He concluded. This is a good statement from a good professional pilot that shows that air transport is safer, even than road transport yet; the flying fear still remains in the minds of some fliers. The big question here is why the fear of flying still remains in the mind of some people?

More so, a report has also shown that the chance of any passenger dying in a plane crash is 1 in 11 million, this is a very low figure and in percentage it means 0.00001%. This also shows that the air transport is safer and the chance of any passenger dying in plane crash is very slim therefore, one would have expected that this safety report or research will chase away the fear of flying in the mind of so many fliers, but this is not so, as many fliers most especially the first-time fliers still accommodate the flying fear in their minds.

Flying Fear: One Major Factor of Causation

Despite, the strong assertion from experts that air transport is safer and the chance of a passenger dying in a plane crash is very slim if not impossible, many people still find it easy to be afraid when travelling by air. One will wonder why this common fear in the mind of many people who intend to travel by air.

The major reason is that we are subconscious human being; man can be influenced easily by what he hears or sees. In other words, things happening around us can influence are behavior. Why? It is because we are subconscious beings. We are very good in risk assessment especially when it has to do with human life. For instance, a medical doctor who is trained to treat human is given more attention in the society than a medical doctor who is trained to treat animals, why? It is because human doctor saves human life, not because human doctor is more difficult than veterinary doctor; in fact, I got to know that veterinary medicine is even more difficult to practice; it is not easy to treat different kind of animals that do not speak your language. In addition, do you know that most planes that crash while flying in the air are always fatal? Some crashed into the ocean while some crashed in the jungle. Such areas are not easily assessable which make it difficult for rescue team to rescue all the victims or to recover all their dead bodies. Therefore, people may think twice or be panic when flying in the air.

For instance, the sudden disappearance of an Indonesian plane MH 370 still remains the world biggest problem in aviation that creates a deep concern and a great fear in the minds of most fliers. It is difficult to imagine that in this century of a great technology a mighty plane of a 270 tones passenger jet can disappear in the air and still remains untraceable till today.

However, with this news or incident it may be really difficult for someone to travel by air without being panic, even if the chance of dying in a plane crash move from 1 in 11 million to 1 in 11 billion yet the fear of flying will still remain in the mind of some people simply because we are subconscious beings. For more understanding, do you know that after the September 11, attack in US, many people avoid traveling by air in 2001? The fear of flying was too strong in them as at that time, what had happen has influence their behavior. Why? It is because they are subconscious human beings, what happens in our environment can really influence our behavior either positively or negatively.

A Mad Man is also a Subconscious being.

One more example, often the time I have noticed that some mad men around the street do take their time whenever they want to cross the road; they look both left and right of the road to ensure that the road is safe for them, before crossing the road at will. I wonder how a mad man could make such a conscious effort to cross the road at will. Even though he is mad, yet his mental faculties are not dulled to note that a vehicle can taken away his life, hence he makes a conscious effort to cross the road safely at will. Why? It is because he is a subconscious human being. Though he is a mad man yet the fear of dying in road accident still remains in him. Although, some of them may prove otherwise, they may cross the road without even looking for the oncoming vehicle. This explains why they are called mad men.

Flying Fear: – One Major Solution: Choose not to Fear.

Fear may come as a result of what you hear or see or as a result of what has happened in your environment and if care is not taken such fear may be with you for the rest of your life. What you fear may seem so sure and it can influence your behavior negatively. People who fear may find it difficult to become what they really want to be.

However, the major solution to the fear of flying is to choose not to fear. If you are fearful fliers, all you need to do to cure the fear in you is by choosing not to fear. Everyone has a choice to make. You have an in built power to choose what you like. No one can make such a choice for you; you need to choose it yourself. This is the way you to set yourself free.

How is it possible?

I guess you may want to ask me the above question that is why I also think along to answer you beforehand. I remember that I used to fear to travel to school by road when I was a student in one of the polytechnics in my country, Nigeria. My first fear came as a result of a series armed robberies attack on my school mates when traveling on the road while, my second fear came as the result of high rate of accident on the same road. The journey to the town where my school is located was about 2 hours journey, but because of the bad condition of the road then the journey always took us 3 hours: 30 minutes. Therefore, whenever I wished to travel home or to campus I always over whelmed with fear of armed robbery attack or road accident. This was really affecting my behavior, because each time I wished to travel to school or travel for holidays, I would fast and pray very hard for journeying mercy and ensured that I did not commit any sin before the journey and during the period of the journey, why? Because I thought we may be attacked by robbers and I may lose my life but I don’t want to lose heaven so I kept myself holy before and during the journey. In other words, the fear of losing heaven also, gripped my heart. Can you imagine my thought? You may think I was too spiritual, no! I was not but, a fearful passenger.

So when the fear of traveling to school became a burden in my mind I made up my mind not to fear, so the next time I needed to travel back to school I made a simple prayer without fasting and I embarked on the journey and I arrived safely, nothing happen to me. I did the same thing almost 3 times still nothing happen to us on road, so consciously or unconsciously the fear in me disappear completely till I finished my program. Why? Because I chose not to fear.

Your attitude is more important than fact and figure.

Furthermore, no one wants to die untimely; hence, the statistics and facts on plane crashes can make you to fear or frighten you. You need to have positive attitude. “Attitude is more important than fact” says a professional psychiatrist, D. Karl Menninger. Your right attitude will surely set you free from such news or statistics, so when you are flying in the air be bold; be happy; be comfortable to mention but a few. These are the right attitudes you need to develop in your mind. Attitude is that little thing that shows a big difference, says an adage.

Until you choose not to fear, you may remain a fearful flier and a fear over time may lead to anxiety and anxiety over time may lead to hypertension, and hypertension may lead to untimely death if not properly managed, a delicate disease that has no cure, many are hypertensive patients today just because they choose to fear. In fact, if there’s anything you need to fear at all, it must be the fear itself. You can set yourself free now by choosing not to when you flying in the air!